a The Messenger a

     November 2008     

 

Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church

100 East Washington Avenue, Newtown, PA18940

215-968-2781

 www.stlukesnewtown.org

 

 

The Mission of St. Luke’s Church is to worship and serve Jesus Christ, and to proclaim His Good News

. . . by providing traditional Anglican faith, doctrine and practice;

. . . by nurturing the spiritual and emotional growth of the parish family;

. . . and by enabling outreach in His Holy Name.

Father Curtin’s Comments

Of thine own have we given thee.

November brings many wonderful holy days filled with meaning and rich with blessing. We begin the month celebrating All Saints (the Church Triumphant) and All Souls (the Church Expectant). We pause to give thanks for all of the goodness of the creation, our families and friends, our Heavenly Father’s amazing grace. We end the month celebrating the feast of Christ the King and move quickly into the secular intensity of “the holiday season”.

Strangely, but not surprisingly, just as our Heavenly Father invites us to pause, reflect and give thanks the world presses us to accelerate our already fast paced lives. It does not have to be this way. We can make another choice. Our Heavenly Father invites us to ground our choice in the love of Jesus Christ.

The All Saints/All Souls holy days remind us that all who are baptized in Christ are one with Christ and live with Him forever. Eternal life begins at the baptismal font. We belong to Christ. We are His and He is ours. Nothing can separate us from His eternal love, not even death. Christ is Light and Life. He invites us to remember that truth. He invites us to claim that truth as a promise. He invites us to live that truth through the many daily choices we make.

The world sets aside one day a year to give thanks. We in the church honor that sentiment. We also seek to nurture that sentiment in our own souls as a profound shift in consciousness.

That shift in conscious is away from a view of our lives in terms of scarcity toward an understanding of the amazing grace of God in Christ. That amazing grace can, if we choose to receive it, make all of the difference in how we live and move and manifest our being in this world.

The saints experienced this shift in consciousness. They moved from a place of being self absorbed  closed and penurious to a place of self giving open generosity. Whatever their station in life, whatever their profession, whatever challenges and sorrows they encountered they lived from the place of amazing grace. From that place they opened their minds and hearts and wills to be channels of God’s grace and channels of God’s abundant blessing.

  How has God blessed you? What are you thankful for? In that blessing please consider where  God is inviting you to open your heart to be a blessing to your family, to this parish, and to all whom you meet.

  One of the spiritual principles our Heavenly Father reveals to us is that we are blessed as we give. The more self absorbed we are, the more inward looking, the more we experience life from a place of fear and the less we experience the blessing in our lives. It is in joyful self giving from the resources of time, talent and treasure that God has made available to us now that we find the path to personal growth and personal expansion. The one who gives generously is the one who finds his or her heart opening rather than closing.

  The heart of Jesus seeks to fill our human hearts with more and more of His divine light, and life and love. The Holy Spirit seeks to transform our minds and wills  so that as we give we are blessed and as we are blessed we become God’s blessing to others and to ourselves.

  What are you thankful for? Consider the blessing God has given you in your answer. Consider the invitation of Jesus Christ to use that blessing to open your heart to the extravagant abundance of his eternal love and to channel that blessing to others through the offering of your time, talent and treasure.

All that we have is given to us by God. When we give we give from God’s abundance. It is in giving that we open our souls more fully and completely to participate in the divine life of the eternal Trinity with the saints of the Church Triumphant and the souls of the Church Expectant.

  Be blessed this Thanksgiving time in the year of our living Lord Jesus Christ 2008. Live the blessing this Thanksgiving. Make a real choice to become the one for whom others give thanks at this time. Make a real choice to become more and more of God’s blessing in this world this Thanksgiving, now and forever.

 

 

Church words

  For over a thousand years church and state in Western Civilization were closely allied. The culture spoke a language informed by the apostolic teaching of the church. In our generation we have seen culture interpret freedom of religion as freedom from religion. Most people in the secular societies of the West (Europe and North America) no longer think in religious categories and no longer understand the traditional vocabulary of the Church. Here are some helpful definitions which include other words to express the same divine truth.

 

Sin= Separation

Salvation= Reunification

Sanctification= Transformation

Grace= Gift

Faith= Trust

Repent= Change

Confess= acknowledge

Transgression= rejection

  Key talking points for conversations with secular people.In Jesus Christ God reveals to us that he exists, that he is personal, that he is love.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life because Jesus Christ is the fulness of God in human flesh.  Jesus tells us and shows us that the problem facing humanity is separation: separation from God, separation from each other, separation from the truth of our own identity as God’s beloved.  Belief in Jesus Christ reunites us to God and initiates a new life of growth and transformation.  That new life is eternal. It begins now and never ends. We need no longer fear death (or life) because we are secure in the eternal love of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

Society of Mary at st. luke’s

 

  The Anglican Society of Mary meets every Saturday morning at 8:10 AM in the church to pray the rosary in intercession for the salvation and sanctification of souls. During November  we will pray the Five Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Assumption, the Coronation.

  Morning prayer follows at 8:30 AM with special intention for the clergy of our diocese. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharistic Adoration) follows at 8:50 AM. The Holy Eucharist follows at 9AM with special intention and intercession for the children, teens and college students of our parish. Every one is welcome to any or all of the Saturday morning services. Rosaries and rosary booklets are available free of charge. See Fr. Curtin.

  As we meditate on the mysteries of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in the prayers of the rosary we may notice one important aspect of Mary’s life. She lived from a place of grace. The archangel Gabriel declared that Mary was full of grace. The mysteries of the rosary give us a glimpse of what a life lived from the place of grace looks like. First: it is a life that seeks communion with God in worship and prayer. We see Mary participating in the liturgical worship of the Temple. Second, it is a life that seeks personal transformation through the revealed word of God recorded in the Bible. Mary had as a child and teen memorized scripture. Third, it is a life of service.

  Unlike our first mother, Eve, who chose pride to form her soul according to what she perceived to be the attributes of God (knowledge and power), Mary chose humility. By grace, Mary perceived the nature of God is love and holiness. God has many attributes. Mary chose to seek to pattern her life according to God’s nature: steadfast holy love. Jesus grew up in a family where worship according to God’s pattern, place and time were the priority. Other families might make other choices about how they would use their time and resources. Mary made a choice that her family would always make worship a priority. Mary also set Bible study and Scripture memorization as a priority in her family. Other families might ignore such things. Mary did not.  God entrusted His only begotten Son to Mary’s care because Mary had made a real choice to live from a place of grace.

  One other aspect of Mary influenced Jesus as a child and a teen. Mary had the heart of a servant. She always sought ways to help others. She never waited for some one to ask her to help out. If she perceived a need and had the resources she simply met the need. Mary reminds us today that the foundations of the Christian Family are worship, Bible study, prayer and service to others- all performed from a place of grace. The grace is the outpouring and unfolding of God’s steadfast holy love in our souls.

  Holy Mary, our Lady of Grace, pray for us that we may make a real choice to live from the place of grace and become the love of God in our families and to this lost and lonely generation.

 

 

Memory verse for November

  If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.”  Romans 10:9

  The great problem that defines the human condition is separation from God. The great solution to the problem is Jesus Christ. Sin is separation. Salvation is reunification. Faith is the means by which we accept God’s gift of reunification in Jesus Christ.

 

How to use this verse:

1. Evangelism: to tell other people in a very short and concise way how they can experience reunification with God.

2. Spiritual growth: as a personal reminder that you have made a commitment to Christ and are now growing in grace.

3. In intercession for those who struggle with accepting Jesus Christ as savior. Use the verse as a prayer: Grant that (name the person you pray for) may confess with his lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead so that (name the person you pray for) will be saved.

4. In meditation on our heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.

5. In contemplation on the grace of God in Christ.

 

 

 

Christmas pageant

5:00PM December 24, 2008

Rehearsal:

Saturday December 20 in the church from

10:00AM - 11:30AM

all children and teens are invited to participate

 

Love loaves

 

Love Loaves: Once again we will be collecting contributions for the World Vision Love Loaf project to feed the poorest of the poor in Africa.  The new card board love loaf boxes are available in the Narthex and in the Parish Hall. Please bring the boxes to church Thanksgiving week.

Worship Opportunities at St. Luke’s

 

(all services are in the church unless otherwise noted)

Saturday:       8:10AM Rosary in intercession for the salvation and sanctification of souls

                      8:30AM Morning Prayer

                       9:00AM Holy Eucharist

Sunday:          8:00AM Eucharist

                       9:00AM Bible Study in the Library of the Parish House

                     10:00AM Eucharist with hymns

Wednesday:  10:00AM Healing Eucharist

The church is open Monday - Friday until 3PM for private prayer and meditation. Please place any offerings for votive candles in the offering plate on Sunday or bring them to the office in the Parish House during the week.

 

 

Teen Saint for November

Our teen saint for November is ....you!

All who have been baptized into Jesus Christ are one with Christ. In Christ you have been reunited to God the Father. In Christ you are being made holy through the indwelling and transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

  A priest once asked an acolyte to define a saint. The acolyte looked at the beautiful stained glass windows in the church and answered: a saint is some one who lets the light shine through. This is exactly who a saint is. A saint is not perfect. Only Jesus Christ was perfect. A saint is some one who makes a choice to allow the light of Christ shine through his or her own soul.

How can we do this? Jesus told us exactly how to be who we really are, to be saints. He said: love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. The saints are people who are learning how to love. The saints are people who are making daily choices to love.

  We love God best through our worship. The first choice in loving God through worship is to show up in church on Sunday. Our culture, our own desires, and the fallen Seraph Satan will all try to convince you not to come to church. Your guardian angel will encourage you to find that place in your soul that loves God and to make the choice to come to church from that place.  We love other people by helping them. Sometimes, just a smile or a kind word can help brighten a person’s day. Some times we need to stop making fun of someone and have the courage to say no to our friends when they want us to be mean and spiteful. Some times, all it takes is asking some one- what can I do to help?

  Finally, we become saints as we learn to love our true selves. You are a child of God. God created you for love and holiness. You become more of who God created you to be when you remember this and ask His help to become His love in this world.  People who are mean, and nasty and spiteful don’t love themselves. They hate themselves. People who break God’s laws don’t love themselves. They end up hurting themselves. People who see themselves as broken or terrible or lost don’t love themselves. There are so many voices in our world that seek to make us unhappy. There are so many false promises of short term pleasure that result in long term suffering. Do not be deceived.  God reminds all of us that He sent Jesus into the world to die on the cross for us- all of us, each of us, and you specifically. You are of infinite value to God. You and only you can bear a unique aspect of God’s eternal love in this world of time and space. God calls each of you a saint. How will you accept this wonderful promise and this amazing gift?  Who are you choosing to become? Choose wisely. Choose Jesus. Choose love.

 

Ways to help...

~~Please save Acme register tapes.  St. Luke’s Youth Group can earn 1% back on all collected register tapes.  You may bring or mail your gathered tapes to the Parish House. There are several participating stores; please check with your Acme regarding their participation. 

~~Please bring non-perishable food to fill our pantry.  It does help a lot of people right here in Newtown.  Feel free to drop off your items outside the office door, outside the front door, or outside the pantry and we’ll be sure to put them away.  So, next time you’re grocery shopping, pick up just a little extra.  It will help someone in our community.

 

 

Walk Through the Bible Study

Walk through the Bible Study Tuesday November 11

The Walk though the Bible study meets on the second Tuesday of the month from 7PM-8Pm in the Library of the Parish House. Every one is welcome. No prior knowledge of the Bible is required. All questions are welcomed.

On November 11 we will study the book of the prophet Zechariah.  Zechariah prophesied during the years 520-518 B.C. He was a contemporary of the prophet Haggai and addressed the same issues confronting Judah: rebuilding the Temple, re instituting liturgical worship according to the pattern revealed by God to Moses, reforming society, and Messianic promise.

Historical setting: Seventy years before Zechariah prophesied the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and taken its survivors into exile.  After the Persians conquered Babylon they permitted the exiles to return to Judah if they chose. Some chose to return only to find the cities in ruins and the land occupied by enemies. Many chose to remain in the relative security and prosperity of the Persian Empire. The prophets of this time emphasize that the purpose for the Jews to return to Jerusalem is to rebuild the Temple and prepare for the coming of the Messiah

Questions:

Chapter 1.

1. How does Zechariah date his book?

2. How does Zechariah introduce himself?

3. What does Zechariah say about the ancestors of the Jews?

4. How does Zechariah use those statements to preach his message to his contemporaries?

5. What is the first vision Zechariah receives?

6. Who helps Zechariah understand the vision?

7. What is the interpretation of the vision?

8. What message does God give to proclaim?

9. What is the vision of the horns?

 

Chapter 2.

10. What is the vision of the man with a measuring line in his hands?

11. Why does the angel say that Jerusalem will need no walls?

12. How will God treat Judah’s enemies?

13. How will God treat the gentiles who turn to worship Him?

 

Chapter 3.

14. How does Satan speak about the high priest Joshua?

15. How was Joshua dressed?

16. What do these clothes symbolize?

17. What kind of clothes does the angel offer Joshua?

18. What does this symbolize?

19. What assurance does the angel give to Joshua?

 

Chapter 4.

20. What is the vision of the lampstands (see Revelation 5:6)?

22. What is the vision of the two olive trees?

21.  What is the word of God to Zerubbabel?

22. What task has God appointed to Zerubbabel?

23. Who are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord?

 

Chapter 5.

24. What is the vision of the flying scroll?

25. What two transgressions does the scroll address?

26. What is the meaning of the vision of the basket?

 

Chapter 6.

27. What is the vision of the four chariots? (See Revelation 6:2-8)

28.  Who is the man whom God names “Branch”?

29.  Why does God name him “Branch”?

 

Chapter 7.

30. What do the people ask God?

31. How does God reply?

32. What actions does God require from the people?

 

Chapter 8.

33. Why is God jealous for Zion?

34. What promise does God give to Jerusalem?

 

Chapter 9.

35. What judgments does God declare against Judah’s enemies?

36. Why does God encourage the people to rejoice?

37. How did Jesus fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9?

 

Chapter 10.

38. How does God reveal his power in this chapter?

39. Who are the shepherds that God condemns?

40. Why does God condemn these shepherds?

41. What promise does God give to those still living in exile throughout the world?

 

Chapter 11

42. What judgment does God announce at the beginning of this chapter?

43. How does God continue to use the image and theme of the shepherd?

44. What is the meaning of the breaking of the two staffs called “Favor” and “Unity”?

 

Chapter 12.

45. In a future time of trouble for Jerusalem what promise does God give to the people?

46. How does Jesus fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10?

 

Chapter 13.

47. How does Jesus fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 13:1?

48. What is the judgment against false prophets?

49. How does Jesus fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 13:7?

50. How was the prophecy in Zechariah 13:8-9 fulfilled during the time of Bar Kochba in the year 140A.D.?

 

Chapter 14.

51. The final prophecy looks far into the future to the Second Coming of Christ. What events does this chapter describe. See Revelation 11:15-18; 15:3-4; 22:5.

  Memory verse Zechariah 4:6

Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord.

 

Notes from the music department

 

We have many wonderful events coming up in the months of November and December.  First I am proud to announce that the President of the Royal School of Music in America, Cynthia DeDakais is planning to visit our Choir School in the coming months.  This is a great honor!  We are quickly becoming one of the largest and finest Choir Schools in the Episcopal Church!  The Music Committee and I are glad to announce that we have a Complete Music Library so we can continue to grow and teach our children in the ways of traditional Episcopal/Anglican Worship and Music.  Our children are now beginning to sing with and partner with the Adult Choir.  We had a fun tea and Evensong in September.  Thank you to all who participated, especially those who worked so hard to provide a delicious English afternoon tea.  We also would like to thank Father Curtin for attending the tea and leading us in Worship.

  Due to the great expense of our Curriculum we have brought back Adopt a Chorister.  For $50.00 you can adopt a Chorister. This will provide their music and books for the Michaelmas Term.  You will receive a thank you from the chorister you adopt.

Harpist Alison Simpson will be with us for All Saints Sunday on Nov. 2nd.  The Adult Choir and Choir School will sing the Liturgical portions on this Sunday; which has been our custom for almost ten years.  The Liturgical setting will be the beloved Requiem by Faure.  We have sung the Faure Requiem many times and on many occasions at St. Luke's. We frequently sing this highly Spiritual work for funerals of loved ones.  On All Saints we will offer the Requiem for all departed loved ones.  The Choir offers this work especially to the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of R. Thomas Stevens who was a member of the St. Luke's Choir for 31 years.

  Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him. (Psalm 96 vs. 9) I would like to take a moment to talk about contemplative or meditative worship because the Choirs will be singing the Liturgy on Nov. 2nd.  Our Choir school continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  The children and Youth outnumber the adults by almost three to one (a great problem to have; most churches have the opposite problem).  Our growth is a sign of our strength of faith in Jesus Christ.  The Music Committee and I are devoted to the finest Sacred Music education of our youth and adults.  We have proven that traditional Episcopal worship and music does work in keeping children in the pews.  We have been experiencing growing pains in the music department.  The goal of our Choir School and of the Royal School of Church Music is to preserve the Traditional Choral Service.  St. Luke's IS one of the few churches in this diocese that has a traditional service and traditional Choir School. We are also one of the few parishes that have a large number of youth involved in Scared Music, Worship and Stewardship!

  The preservation of the Choral service is not to exclude the Congregation from the Kyrie or Gloria or any portion of the Mass.  When the choirs sing a Liturgical setting of the service or the canticles you are invited to contemplate and meditate on the words in the Prayer Book.  This is an opportunity to join in transcendental worship.  This type of worship is of the type our Lord Jesus Christ experienced in the Temple of Jerusalem.  It is accounted in the Old Testament that God set apart the Cohens or the Priest Class to lead the Worship of Him.  God also directed that musicians should be set apart in the temple to provide spiritual music.  The Old Testament and The Book of Psalms are filled with musical directives.  The Temple Musicians were all professional.  Here at St. Luke's we employ only three professional singers; all the rest are volunteer.

  What is more beautiful and inspiring than to hear our Choir School and Adult Choir join together in song to praise God as He directs us?  The music program is committed to providing both Choral Services and Congregational Services.  I ask all who have difficulties with the Choirs Singing the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, etc.) to open their hearts and minds to beauty of our Choral worship.  Think, pray, study the words in the Prayer Book; let them enter your Soul.  Meditate as the choirs sing, and you will find great comfort.  The Traditional Choral settings of the Liturgy are sermons in music to bring out the depth of the Heavenly words expressed in the Prayer Book.  The Choirs sing the Liturgical settings on your behalf so you can meditate and contemplate the great Divine Mysteries.  Our Modern world is against this type of worship because it detaches us from the world.  But to truly worship God in the beauty of Holiness detachment is essential. I invite conversation about this subject, please do not hesitate to contact me.  As we continue to grow in and for Christ please open your heart for the benefit of our children.  At the Music Committee meeting in June it was upheld that it is important to have the choirs sing the Liturgy on Feasts.  Parents, Choir members, and committee members literally stated that it would be senseless to turn back now when we have come so far.  The Choral Service will be a great attraction in the future for this Parish.  Currently people need to travel to Princeton, New York City or Philadelphia to hear a traditional Episcopal Choral Service.  We should be proud and honored to maintain such a hallowed Anglican tradition.  We are committed to maintaining a fair and healthy balance for the Choirs and Congregation. The Church of Christ has enough room for all.

God Bless,

Nicholas

 

 

Home Coming

 

Have you been attending St. Luke’s but never registered with the parish as a member? You are certainly welcome to attend without being a member. However, if you feel you have found a spiritual home in our parish you are invited to register. Simply call the office or email stlukeschurchpa@verizon. net.

It is that easy.

If you are transferring from another Episcopal parish let us know if you would like us to request a letter of transfer.If you are coming from the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox communions let us know if you wish to be received into the Episcopal Church by Bishop Turner on June 7, 2009.

If you are coming from one of the Protestant denominations let us know if you would like to receive the sacrament of confirmation by Bishop Turner on June 7, 2009.

Classes for confirmation and reception will begin in the Spring of 2009 and are open to all interested adults. Separate classes for children (grades 5 and above) will also be offered.

  We are more of who we are called to be when we gather together to worship our Living Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

  Making Liturgical Renewal Part of your Life

 

In the coming Months I will be writing a new article on Episcopal Liturgical Renewal.  I was very inspired by Fr. Curtin's words to all of us on making St. Luke's the center of Liturgical Renewal in the Episcopal Church.  I would love someday to do a team series of teachings on the Book of Common Prayer and its Liturgy with him.  Many other denominations are seeking Liturgical Renewal especially our brothers and sisters of the Roman Catholic Confession.  This has been spearheaded by the Pope himself which is evident on giving permission for the celebration to the Tridentine (traditional) Latin Mass by any priest without the permission of a Bishop.  Also the Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodists have been revising their Liturgies and making Communion a more regular part of their worship.

 O worship God in the beauty of His holiness! How powerful are the words of the Psalmist.  God wants us to worship Him as He has commanded us to do so.  God gives us exact directions in the Bible; both Old and New Testaments have His directions on how to worship Him on earth and testimonies of the unceasing worship in Heaven.  The Christian Church uses examples of these forms of Worship to this very day.  Christian Communities can differ severely in how far they diverge from the Biblical Worship of God.  First of all God commands that his worship is Liturgical. The word Liturgy is taken from Greek which literally means "the work of the people."   Why work?  How we approach God in His holy temple is the most important action we can do in our whole lives.  The idea that Liturgy is a corporate action is very important.  It means that we offer our worship as a Living Sacrifice in our Love of God. 

The Eucharist is also a Greek word which means "Thanksgiving” in and with the love of our neighbors." We will discover over the coming months that it is very difficult to translate Greek word for word.  Greek is a poetic language of ideas where as Latin is a concrete language of specific definitions.  We are blessed at St. Luke's to use the traditional translation of the Prayer Book in our Anglican Service Book.  This blessing of translation is not just for the sake of poetry or old-fashioned words, but for the deep conviction and amazing accuracy with which Cranmer and others took with the original Liturgical languages.

We will explore beauty and accuracy in our worship at St. Luke's.  Our children do appreciate and are comforted by our traditional worship.  Children are smart!  One thing Choir Camp has taught me over the past two years is that when children are taught traditional worship, they love it!  We cover the beautiful King James, Coverdale translation of the Psalter, traditional Prayer Book, Latin and Greek and their understanding, love, compassion, and attendance at Church increases all the time.

The youth of the Choir School are our most consistent and well attended children! If you will be following my Article over the upcoming months you will need a Bible and a Book of Common Prayer or Anglican Service Book.  If you need either of these please call me at the office and I will get you copies. Our first few studies will be on the Mass or Holy Communion because we are commanded by God: "I am the Lord Thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.", "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day", "Honor thy father and thy mother"; and our Lord's Great commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself".

 God tells us He is the I AM.  This means we must worship him!  If we are to be children of God we must accept God on His terms not ours.  We are told there are no other gods but I AM and there is no way around this no matter the translation!  The name of God was so feared by the Jews of the Old Testament that it was forbidden to speak the name of God.  Our Lord and Savior Jesus tells us something more, that God is Love and that he is one with the Father.  This is very important in all aspects of the Christian Faith, but is especially explicit in Prayer and Worship.  We as Christians can address God by name and worship Him more fully in the beauty of Holiness.  Can you speak to any person without a name, can you confide in a loved one, friend or family member without even knowing his or her name?  Jesus tells us the name of God and tells us how to Pray to God.  Jesus is God up close in person.  Jesus tells us to pray: "Our Father..... " and I'm sure you know the Lord's Prayer.  Jesus came not to destroy the Law of Moses but to fulfill the Law because Jesus is the Law.

The next Commandment of God we shall consider: "Remember that thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath day."  God tells us that we should set aside the Sabbath day which reminds us of the Creation when God himself rested on the Seventh Day.  Again to Worship God is the greatest action of Christian.  In the time of our Lord the Sabbath was kept strictly as Orthodox Jews still keep to this day.  Our Lord Jesus did not do normal work or activities on the Sabbath day.  Jesus studied the Torah, Prayed, attended synagogue, and rested as God commanded. 

  On Sunday where are we?  Are we totally devoting the intention of the Sabbath Day to Worship God?  Are we studying the Bible? Are we meditating on sublime Christian music?  Are we fully present for our Lord at Mass as Jesus is fully present in the Holy Communion?  Are you nourishing your body, mind and Spirit with the holy mysteries of the Mass? To keep Holy the Sabbath day means exactly what God commands. 

  God knows we need to hear His Word, Listen to carefully crafted Sacred Music, receive a message in the sermon which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, confess our sins and be reunited to God in complete truth and honesty, and most importantly to receive God Himself in the person of Jesus through the Holy Communion.  Through these actions we are healed, hence why we have the Sacrament of Unction at the end of the Mass.  By the time we come forward to receive healing we have done all that  God has commanded.  We are in a state of complete Grace.  This is a powerful moment! 

  When you come to Holy Communion you should ask to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Why? Because at that moment you are in complete truth.  Being in complete truth means you admit you need the help of God at all times and in all places.  Being in complete truth means you are an open receptacle of Grace.  Being in a state of Grace allows us to enter full communion with God Himself and allows us to do His work.  To do the work of God is to Love God and Love your neighbor.

  The Eternal Truth of Jesus Christ is Love and being in that love through Grace will change your life and all those who come in contact with.  If you do not obey the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath Day you lose the most important opportunity of your Life which is to enter eternal Life here and now and bring that Life to all you meet. 

  Next month we will begin with the Study of the opening Rite and the Summary of the Law that is at the beginning of the Office of Holy Communion,  commonly called the Mass.

Truly yours in the Living Lord Jesus,

Nicholas

 

 

 

Loyalty Sunday: November 16th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  ECW Update

Plans are underway for another successful Christmas Bazaar.  Mark your calendar for Saturday, December 6 from 10:00AM - 3:00PM.  We already have some volunteers to help on the day of the Bazaar and the week before, preparing for Saturday.  Please contact Susan Redman if you would like to volunteer your time, talent and or treasure at 215-860-7372.

Just a reminder: Someone from the Christmas Bazaar committee WILL be calling you.  We are asking for donations from everyone in the Parish.  The items that are being requested are:

        1.  Gift cards to local stores $25.00 or more

        2.  Items for the Bottle Table

        3.  Baked Goods for our Bake Table

        4.  Items for baskets or our Silent Auction Table

You can bring these items any Sunday and leave them in the office or in the Narthex, please mark your donation as Christmas Bazaar.  Please try to have all donations in the office by November 29^th.  Thank you in advance for your generous support.

If you are, or if you know anyone in town who is a business owner, you can ask them for a donation from their store.  There is a tax number that is available in the office for their records.  This would also be greatly appreciated. 

If you are interested in making cookie batter, and/or baking cookies for the Bazaar, please contact Ruth Mooney at 215-757-8749. Cookie preparation is underway.  Even if you can only give one night to help, think of the fellowship that will take place.  We appreciate any time, talent or treasure you can offer.

  Vendor/Crafters -Susan Redman 215-860-7372

  Raffle Baskets/Silent Auction - Susan Redman  

 

Luncheon-

- in charge of soup- John Molloy 215-257-4458

- food, other than soup - Jerry Mooney 215-757-8749

- waiters/waitresses- Barbara Keagy

- set up Friday- Jerry Mooney and others

 

Greens and Wreaths:

- supplying wreaths/greens/selling the day of the Bazaar-      George Bell 215-322-1589

- coordinating wreath decorating week before bazaar -Janet Neis

 

Cookies- Ruth Mooney 215-757-8749 

              Marianne Kelbaugh 215-598-3040

 

Bake Table- Jean Sullivan- 609-883-1543    

              

Bottle Table- Bob Keagy/Kathy McGeary